Communal Provisioning and Community Abundance: Operationalizing Jewish Concepts of Gleaning through Design

Abstract

Each year, more than 10% of the U.S. population experiences food insecurity.1 Historically, many faith-based organizations have focused on alleviating hunger as an expression of their values. As these organizations are some of the largest non- governmental landowners in the world,2 some of their less productive land holdings could be repurposed to directly address food justice. In Jewish practice, Biblical literature outlines laws providing agricultural support in the form of fallen grain and fruit available for post-harvest gleaning.3 Two associated projects, Abundance Farm and the Food Security and Sustainability Hub, provide design examples that address food justice by operationalizing Jewish traditions of the commons.